Scotland’s tea culture and consumption might be overshadowed by the likes of their neighbors, England and Ireland, but tea is certainly important there and there’s even a Scottish Breakfast tea blend to keep the likes of Irish Breakfast tea and English Breakfast tea company. There are also famous Scottish tea people from history like James Taylor, Robert Fortune, and Thomas Lipton, and the first of these has even inspired a tea festival there.

The first incarnation of the Scotland’s Tea Festival just took place this August so you missed it. But we’ll hope for another one next year that might include such events as “Tealicious Tearooms to a Teddy Bears Picnic, James Taylor Heritage Exhibition to High Teas, Afternoon Tea to Art workshops, Cutty Sark Knot tying to Cakes, tea tasting and blending, tea cocktails, talks, lectures, afternoon teas, high teas, opening dinner, unveiling of a plaque on James Taylor’s home.”

I wrote about tea dueling a while back, a practice that seems to have gotten started in the Steampunk community. On a somewhat related theme, here’s an article about the Travelling Tea Museum, which is produced by a gent who’s said to be the “UK’s foremost Steampunk artist.” Rather than an actual museum, it’s apparently a travelling exhibit that “consists of three large display cases, complete with skirting board and wallpaper, along with curios and memorabilia telling a history of tea you never knew existed.”

Finally, if you’re looking for a skin moisturizer that you can probably eat – in a pinch – then you’re in luck. Here are instructions for making a (tasty?) skin cream that uses green tea and coconut oil. For more on a tea-based treat that’s actually intended to be eaten, have a look at this Asian Spumoni ice cream that was put together by a Las Vegas creamery. Not only is it much more colorful than the average ice cream, it’s a challenging and unique taste blend. I’m no expert on spumoni but according to the article it’s traditionally made “with three layers of cherry, pistachio, and chocolate ice cream.” However, this alternate version substitutes red beans, green tea powder, toasted black sesame seeds and sesame seed paste, and tops it all off with toasted cinnamon sugar wonton strips.

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It has become customary to include a novelty tea infuser in each one of these reports whenever possible. So, with no further ado, here’s the latest and greatest. It seems rather appropriate for an object that’s dunked in water and is called a Deep Tea Diver Infuser.

I wrote about tea smuggling at this site not so long ago. It was once a significant problem, particularly in England during the times when exorbitant taxes on tea encouraged this sort of thing. I assumed that it’s not such a common problem today but according to a recent report in the Pakistani press “100 tons of smuggled black tea has been seized by the Customs Intelligence and Investigation” there.

What would five million teabags look like? Probably like a whole lot of tea but, to see it for yourself, you would have had to attend the grand publicity caravan held for the Tour de France recently. Where the well-known English tea firm Taylors of Harrogate gave out that many teabags, along with a mere 60,000 packets of sweetener to help “sweeten the deal.” That’s more than 200 miles of teabags if you laid them end to end. Not that you ever would.

Just exactly what does an exotic tea hunter do? It all sounds very Indiana Jones but, if you’d like to know the details, you can check out a recent Forbesarticle titled “The Adventures Of Exotic Tea Hunter Rodrick Markus.”

Is tea important to the British? Well, what do you think? From the Department of Research into the Blatantly Obvious comes the revelation that tea is indeed important to the British and is ranked as one of the three top-ranked staples of modern life, along with TV and T-shirts. Results varied depending on the age group of those surveyed and the survey itself was conducted by none other than the online auction giant eBay.

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We’ve written about Tregothnan Estate many times at this site and here’s the proof. It’s noteworthy for the fact that it’s the only significant producer of tea in a place where tea is consumed with great enthusiasm – the United Kingdom. Recently, it was announced, as one of the British papers put it, that “English grown tea will be available for the first time in British supermarkets.” That’s Tregothnan tea, of course, which is also exploring the option of exporting their tea to China, as well as opening their own chain of tea houses.

If “cereal tea” is something you’ve never heard of before, you’re not alone. I was in the same boat until I ran across a few references to it recently. It’s apparently designed for anyone who thinks that cereal saturated milk found at the bottom of a cereal bowl is something like fine cuisine. According to this instructional article it’s prepared like tea, but it apparently doesn’t contain any actual tea – though you could probably throw some into the mix if you were so inclined.

I seem to recall a few previous references I’ve made into these pages to clothing that has been dyed with tea. Along the same lines, here’s an article about a designer who creates fabric from kombucha, among other things. Kombucha is a cultured drink that’s not tea in the strictest sense of the word but which is usually mixed with tea.

Then there are zany novelty tea infusers. I try not to let too many of those columns pass without a reference to at least one. This time around I’ll point you to not one but rather a fine assortment of twenty tea infusers, courtesy of the good people over at the Mashablesite.

Speaking of zany and novelty, there’s teapots. If you happen to be in Pomona, California this spring you might want to stop by the Big Fish Small Pot teapot event. If you miss it there’s always next year. After all, this year’s incarnation is billed as the Sixth International Small Teapot Competition and Show. More here. For more on teapots, there’s always the teapots teapots teapots site, where they feature such offbeat items of interest as this one.

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Our top story this month could probably fall into the realm of both gadget and offbeat news and feels more than a little bit like something out of a science fiction book or movie. As the story goes, one prominent British tea company is striving to sell more tea in Kuwait by using a hologram in the shape of a human being. The point of the “virtual assistant” as this article puts it, is to “show Kuwaitis how to make a perfect cup of tea.”

Better than a hologram: How to Make Perfect Cup of Tea from ETS video

The notion of a social network for tea lovers is not exactly a new thing. One of the best known of these so far is probably Steepster, which has been in operation for many years now. But that didn’t stop an 18-year-old British high school student from trying his variation on the theme. As the web site notes, it “gives users a chance to share their photos, recommend teas and tea shops, comment on other people’s posts and find out everything tea related near to their location.”

I have yet to see an episode of Downton Abbey, but given that it’s set in World War I-era England it’s safe to say that tea plays a part in the proceedings. Perhaps to take advantage of another popular trend these days – the food truck – the producers and publicists for the show have apparently begun sending the Downton Abbey Tea Truck on its rounds to drum up more interest in the show. Time magazine recently paid the truck a visit. You can find out more about it here.

Tea gadgeteers have increasingly begun taking to crowdfunding (Kickstarter, Indiegogo and so on) these days to try to drum up support for their projects. I ran across a few examples recently that are worth a mention. There’s the Temperfect mug, which claims to solve the problem of tea (or coffee) being too hot to drink at first and then cooling off too fast. Then there’s the Immerset, a gadget that claims to improve the experience of tea (and coffee) brewing. As the inventor puts it it’s an “exciting brewing method that combines both french press & pour over.”

There are a couple of themes that seem to crop up now and then when it comes to gimmicky tea-related stuff. One is using tea in one way or another to make some sort of art and the other is using tea to make or flavor beer or spirits. The latter is a topic I wrote about a few years ago, but it’s a notion that also cropped up recently in the Scottish press.

Which tells of a collaboration between two firms – Eteaket and Barney’s Beer – to come up with a few tea-flavored beers. The first of which – a chili Rooibos blend – didn’t turn out so well. Imagine that. Two other experiments – a Smoky Lapsang Porter and a Breakfast Brew – apparently turned out quite a bit better and you can read more about it all here.

As for that art project, here’s a tale from the British press, of an American artist who paints with tea – literally – though his palette also includes coffee. The impressive works – some of which are showcased in the article – are said to take several months each and the Pennsylvania-based artists claims to use flavored teas from around the world on his canvasses.

But let’s get on to the gadgets now. The German firm known as Finum make a rather distinctive line of tea and coffee accessories and their curiously named Traveler Zita is an interesting addition to that line. If I understand it correctly it’s a tumbler that allows for tea to be conveniently steeped on the go (though I’m sure they wouldn’t object if you used it at home) with a simple twist of the lid preventing the tea leaves from being oversteeped.

Time magazine suggested recentlyLazy Tea Drinkers Will Soon Be Able to Boil Water With Their iPhone. But that’s a slightly deceptive headline, if I do say so myself. I’m pretty sure Apple hasn’t come up with a phone yet that actually boils water. What they meant to say is that you can use your phone to initiate the water boiling process on a device that’s been dubbed the iKettle, which can be had for a mere $160. I’m going to hazard a guess that lazy coffee drinkers and lazy hot chocolate drinkers can also make use of it.

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Let’s start with the offbeat news this time around. Does it get any more offbeat than breast milk in tea? Hard to say. I’m not sure who Mylene Klass is or what her claim to fame is. But apparently she’s well known enough that the British press is abuzz of her recent revelation that when she was growing up it was common for her family to use breast milk in their tea. I’ll pass.

Tea for dogs? Now we’ve heard it all. (screen capture from site)

Following that, the notion of tea for dogs seems rather mild. This one was also featured in the British press recently and recounted the tale of the clever entrepreneurs who have put together “a new range of premium teabags for dogs.” They’re tisanes really, since no real tea is included, and they’re said to cost about ten times as much as the popular British brand, PG Tips. Barking mad, indeed.

If doggy tea bags didn’t chew up enough of your disposable income, then consider this automatic teamaker type gadget that will set you back about three hundred dollars. Sleek-looking, space-age teamakers are hardly a rarity these days but this one apparently is being endorsed by celebrity chef, Heston Blumenthal. Who, as far as I can tell, is a lot better known on the other side of the Atlantic than here, but there you have it.

While we’re talking pricey tea accessories I would probably be remiss if I didn’t mention this Tea With Georg tea set that comes to us from a Dutch company and is made of 100 percent silver. Of course, silver might not quite be to your liking and so you might be more interested in this 24 karat gold afternoon tea, served at a high-end Indian hotel, in which a number of the items are prepared with edible gold. But alas, while the champagne apparently contains gold flakes as well, there’s no mention in this article about whether the tea does.

Last up, here’s a gizmo that gets my vote for being one of the more clever tea-related items I’ve run across for a while. It’s a drinkable tea calendar made by the German tea company Halssen & Lyon. That’s a drinkable tea calendar, as in you can peel off the calendar entry for each day, steep it and drink it. It’s a promotional item that’s apparently not sold to the general public yet but according to one report the company may make it more widely available.

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June is iced tea month, but there’s been a lot more going on than that in terms of tea developments. Here’s a quick look at some that may not necessarily be new but are still not in the mainstream of tea drinkers’ awareness.

Iced tea can be tricky, and some teas take the cold well while others don’t, as I have experienced first hand on numerous occasions, to the point of giving up on iced tea altogether. So, this competition (which actually took place on May 21st) was pretty important. The good news is the judges stated that overall quality is getting better. And the variety is higher, too. Both flavored and unflavored, sweetened and unsweetened, white, green, black, and oolong were selected. Great news for those of you who can’t live without a gallon or two every day during these hot times.

World Tea Expo in Las Vegas, held June 7 thru 9

Another gathering of tea vendors and eager tea drinkers braving triple-digit temperatures to show and be seen. Some events featured were: a demonstration of the tea leaf baking ceremony, a rollout of dozens of new tea products, and a discussion group of tea bloggers (yours truly not included). Sadly, one of their events was the “North American Tea Championship Winners Tasting Circle – White, Green, Oolong, Unflavored Herbal Teas.” (Herbal teas? Really? How very disappointing.)

India Tea Board Places New Requirement on Tea

According to Rajiv Lochan, a tea vendor from India, the India Tea Board has to approve import and exports. More government slowing things down maybe? Will have to see how this affects the market or if it will at all.

Tea Innovators Turning to Fundraising Sites

Kickstarter, Indigogo, and other sites are where inventive types can raise funds needed to develop their products more fully and bring them to market. One such invention is Leaf by Keyway Innovations, the cleverly innovative tea maker “that lets you truly enjoy the taste, brewing experience and health benefits of freshly brewed tea.” They are on Indiegogo and have a good start on reaching their funding goal. Got your own tea product idea? Check out some of these fundraising sites. You could be the next big sensation.

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Here’s a quick look at some tea developments that may not necessarily be new but are still not in the mainstream of tea drinkers’ awareness.

U.S. Tea Growers Expanding

Nigel Melican reports: “I now have positive responses from tea growers in eight US states – and many more potential growers – that’s marvellous [sic] in just 6 days.
The inaugural meeting of the US League of Tea Growers will be held at the World Tea Expo at 4:30pm on Saturday 8th June 2013. All interested parties are welcome.” Sounds fabulous! As a nation that still goes for coffee much more frequently than for tea, this is an amazing development.

Tea Flavor Enhancer Patent

Unilever, the company behind a very well-known brand of powdered and bottled tea, has filed an international patent for a process that creates tea juices to enhance the flavor of those tea powders and bottled teas. The tea juices are made with minimal processing and higher levels of bioactive compounds. Naturally, tea lovers are a tad…uh, well… up in arms, actually. Personally, I have to say that anyone who buys bottled teas or powdered instant teas has already opted to get less than a true tea experience. So, why should a flavor enhancer be a big deal?

Tea 2030 Project Launches

The Tea 2030 project is going to be exploring how the tea industry could change over the next 17 years. Leading stakeholders in the tea industry, from growers to producers to vendors) will be looking into the challenges facing them all. From drought to the push to give up crop saving pesticides to changing from manual harvesting to machine, tea growers face a lot of issues, and those issues ripple out to producers and vendors.

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Is drinking tea bad for you? Well, apparently it is if you drink it to ridiculous excess. Of course, you could probably make the argument that anything you consume in ridiculous amounts becomes bad for you. A recent report in the New England Journal of Medicine has garnered a rather ridiculous amount of press in itself, now that you mention it. It told the tale of a woman who for seventeen years drank a pitcher of tea a day made with up to 150 tea bags, a habit which wreaked havoc on her teeth and bones. Perhaps it would be impolite of me to say that a little common sense might have prevented this, but there it is.

On a decidedly lighter note, how about some tea-scented toilet paper? No, it’s not a belated April Fool’s day joke. It’s hard to imagine that the Japanese could come up with something offbeat and quirky but that’s where these several “flavors” of the aforementioned product come from. As much as I love tea, I’m afraid I’ll pass. Ditto for the Earl Grey lip balm available here, along with other such flavors as Tupelo Honey and Mint Julep.

If you’re more in the mood for something tea-flavored that you can actually consume, then you might try a product from yet another brewer who’s decided to blend the two great tastes of beer and tea. Here’s a brief blurb on Flying Dog Green Tea Imperial Stout, which comes with a price tag more suited to a moderately decent wine.

It’s been way too long since we presented our noble readers with any strange and offbeat teapots, so it’s time to make amends. Here’s a roundup of 9 Unique Teapots from Real Simple magazine. For almost four times the quirky teapot goodness have a look at 33 Quirky Teapot Designs from the good people at Trend Hunter. Finally we close this edition of the gadget report with a truly unusual helmet fashioned from a tea kettle. There’s one for the tea lover who has absolutely everything.

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Here’s a quick look at some tea developments that may not necessarily be new but are still not in the mainstream of tea drinkers’ awareness.

Post-Qingming harvesting is now complete (Photo source: stock image)

Tea Harvests Progress

First flush teas are generally harvested in March and April, depending on their location. In China: Pre-Qing teas are harvested from about March 30th through April 5th, so they are done now; the mid-April (Yu Qian) teas are finishing up; Gu Yu and Li Xia teas will be getting underway from about April 30th through May 31st. In India: Darjeeling first flush teas have pretty much finished and shipped to vendors, Assam first flush is done with the second flush (what those “tippy” Assams are made of) is growing as you read this. In Japan, most regions will be starting harvest soon (usually the end of April through early May).

If you like those really fresh teas, keep these dates in mind when ordering from your favorite tea vendor. Some are already pre-announcing the expected arrivals of these new teas (not to be confused with new tea products added to the vendor’s site).

Bottled Tea Sales

Sure we here in the U.S. drink bottled tea year round, but it seems to be more in warmer weather than in cooler. And projections look rosy for bottled tea makers as more Americans dump the cola in favor of that tea. Black, green, oolong, and white in both flavored and straight versions are filling grocery store shelves, but not for long as buyers rush in to stock up. Flavors include lemon, peach, raspberry, and citrus, plus some less common ones like pineapple, apple, mint, strawberry, and chocolate.

Job Opportunities at Tea Gardens

With the change from hand-picked to machine harvesting in some tea growing countries such as Kenya a few years ago, jobs at tea gardens have also changed from rows of women out in among the tea plants to more skilled workers driving the harvesters. They also need other semi-skilled workers. For example, Unilever, a large-scale tea grower with a presence in various countries, had an ad online recently looking for drivers in Kenya to drive the lorries carrying harvested tea leaves to the processing plant. Other positions become available as harvesting times kick in.